Attend a seminar on Laser-based manufacturing processes of advanced materials for extreme environments, Nov. 21
Join the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, as they host Bai Cui, a professor in the mechanical and materials engineering department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
About
Bai Cui is a professor of mechanical and materials engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he advances metal and ceramic materials for extreme environments through innovations in corrosion and irradiation science, laser processing and additive manufacturing. He earned his doctoral degree in materials science from Imperial College London and later conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His work has been recognized with numerous honors, including an R&D 100 Award, the Global Ambassador Award from the American Ceramic Society, the Global Star Award from its Engineering Ceramics Division, the Faculty Research and Creative Activity Award from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Engineering and the Richard Brook Prize for the best doctoral thesis in ceramics in the UK. He also contributes broadly to the professional community as a senior editor of the Journal of Laser Applications, an associate editor of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society, chair of the Manufacturing Division of the American Ceramic Society and former chair of the Corrosion and Environmental Effects Committee in The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, and is a co-founder of PromeMaterials LLC.
Abstract
This seminar will examine how laser and material interactions can be leveraged to manufacture advanced materials and improve their performance in extreme environments such as high temperatures, irradiation and corrosion relevant to energy applications. Cui will introduce his team’s direct selective laser sintering process for additively manufacturing ceramic materials, including compositionally complex carbides and BaTiO3, using a continuous-wave laser to directly sinter powders. He will highlight how this approach enables ultrafast densification, phase transformations, distinct microstructures and enhanced mechanical properties. The seminar will also discuss the team’s work on laser shock processing, a surface-engineering method that uses pulsed laser-generated shock waves to create deep compressive residual stress, along with experimental insights into how this process strengthens ceramic materials.
Laser-based manufacturing processes of advanced materials for extreme environments
Friday, Nov. 21, 2025
11 a.m.–noon
Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 12 (ITSB12) room 215, Polytechnic campus [map]